Dufus + Jeffrey Lewis + Faceometer at the Jug of Ale, Moseley

Sunday, May 8th 2005. Another day, another gig at the Jug of Ale, another batch of dodgy low-light, desaturated photos added to my Gigs set on Flickr…

I arrived in the middle of the first support act which was a real shame. Faceometer is one Will Tattersdill, something of a hyperactive self-confessed nerd with a guitar, and his accomplice Max Jones.

Will’s (on the right) sense of humour was infectious and any ADD-related shambolism made it all the more endearing. Above all he’s a really accomplished performer playing off the calmer Jones and very funny. One song towards the end came across as a heartbreaking French ballad until you listen closely and realise he doesn’t actually speak French – it’s just a bunch of random nonsensical phrases culminating in “Je ne sais pas Francais, desole”. I just wish I’d heard more of the set but there are some mp3s here and like any good geek he’s got a blog. Despite being a Birmingham native he usually plays in Exeter, according to his gig list, so Devon residents go check him out. I have a feeling he’s someone worth keeping an eye on.

Next up was Jeffrey Lewis, the main draw for me after his storming set last September. This was a solo set (Lewis is usually accompanied by his brother Jack) trying out some new songs from the forthcoming album and generally goofing off. The room wasn’t as packed as last time – we were sitting on the floor throughout which is always nice at a gig – but of those who were there most seemed to be fans. It’s not every lo-fi American singer-songwriter who can come to a pub in the Midlands and have people shout out requests and sing along but as I’ve said before, the Jug does seem to be his home from home. It’d be interesting to see how he does this set at other venues on the tour.

We started with some new songs which, because they came first, I’ve annoyingly forgotten but they were good, if a little maudlin. This was countered by some of the lo-fi videos where a sketchpad is employed to illustrate a song accompanied by tape recording of Jeff on guitar. Of note was the History of Communism song which had barely been started last September and is now 2/3 complete. Hopefully next year we’ll get to the Russian Revolution. Finally we had the requests with some nice if rapid renditions of Back When I was Four and The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song.

Finally Dufus took to the stage. Like any good band they”re quite hard to pin down and the best I can do is say they’re like a cross between the Mountain Goats and the Chili Peppers with a side helping of the Butthole Surfers. In other words, they’re kinda American. And they looked kinda American with that whole surfer-dude-stoner-acid-punk thing going on, like a piece of California had come to our pub.

When they started off it became apparent that having Jeffrey Lewis doing a low-key set wasn’t exactly the best warm-up. Dufus are quite the active bouncy dancy kinda band. We were all still sitting on the floor. Eventually someone at the front stood up and everyone else, with a sense of relief, stood up too and it all kicked off nicely. Lewis joined them for a rather incredible rendition of If You Shoot The Head You Kill The Ghoul and, well, I’m losing my powers of description. In fact this gig review is really substandard. My apologies. Suffice to say they were very good indeed and I bought their CD which will be making an appearance on the next podcast.

My fellow gig-goers were were Matt and Marv who I seem to have infected with some kind of live music bug, which is nice. Long may it continue, possibly this Thursday with an acoustic night at the Bull’s Head, again in Moselely where Pete Green is making an appearance. I saw Pete at the Jeff Lewis gig last year and he just emailed to tell me about his return to south Brum. Synchronicity is always fun.